Consumer Reports' Satisfaction Rankings

[bradly1101]

Unlike almost all other product testing organizations, Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with the products it tests, and doesn't accept free samples. So I've trusted it and have been happy with the results of my research every time.

Here is the result of their survey of owners of cars and how they answered the question, "Would you definitely buy it again?"

http://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/car-brands-ranked-by-satisfaction/

 

[PottedMeat]

27 Infiniti 58%
28 Nissan 58%

whoa. never owned one, but i always got the impression they made decent cars

 

[tsupersonic]

Bit surprising on the luxury brands towards the bottom of the list...MB, Volvo, Cadillac, Acura, and Infiniti.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Had a couple minor annoyances with my Mercedes but overall I love it.

whoa. never owned one, but i always got the impression they made decent cars

My Nissan had to have the engine replaced at 58k miles.

 

[Zivic]

Unlike almost all other product testing organizations, Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with the products it tests, and doesn't accept free samples. So I've trusted it and have been happy with the results of my research every time.

Here is the result of their survey of owners of cars and how they answered the question, "Would you definitely buy it again?"

http://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/car-brands-ranked-by-satisfaction/

I look at that list with a huge grain of salt... and can easily tell you it doesn't hold much water....

tesla tops it? of course the huge d-bags that put up money for their tesla would obviously say they'd buy again.... Have the cars been on the road long enough to get a real feel of owner satisfaction?

then we have honda @ 75%, but acura @ 58%?

Then we have GM brands thrown all about in green and yellow categories? Guess what, GM rebadges the same damn car across the brands. There should be no real difference in satisfaction

IMHO this list says much more about the owners than it does the cars

 

[Herr Kutz]

I have an 08 nissan and would consider another. I really like how they are really focusing on driver/ride comfort in many of their vehicles which cannot be said for many of the higher volume manufacturers. Of course the downside to focusing on this means less money is spent on tech and good looking vehicles which is obviously more important to the average car buyer.

 

[leper84]

I look at that list with a huge grain of salt... and can easily tell you it doesn't hold much water....

tesla tops it? of course the huge d-bags that put up money for their tesla would obviously say they'd buy again.... Have the cars been on the road long enough to get a real feel of owner satisfaction?

then we have honda @ 75%, but acura @ 58%?

Then we have GM brands thrown all about in green and yellow categories? Guess what, GM rebadges the same damn car across the brands. There should be no real difference in satisfaction

IMHO this list says much more about the owners than it does the cars

This. Same thing with the ridiculous split between Chrysler and Dodge, even though its the same crappy platforms with the same crappy parts.

Hell, just the fact that Chrysler is that high on the list says enough.

 

[mindless1]

IMHO this list says much more about the owners than it does the cars

I've never put much weight in consumer reports. The more you know about a class of products, the more you end up disagreeing with their assessments and recommendations based on quirky reviewer preferences and small % point differences. In some cases they'll recommend something twice as expensive that might have half the lifespan so your total cost of ownership is 4X what it could have been, not even counting installation, removal, and environmental disposal factors that non-DIYers face.

Granted I'm thinking more in terms of appliances than automobiles, but the situation might even be worse with automobiles since the average person who consults CR, does so because they do lack knowledge about that class of products, including maintenance and repair. When it comes to automobiles, I suspect the average reader has spent more on repairs the first 7 years (young enough that nothing major should have failed yet) than I've spent in 20 on my oldest vehicle.

It's sad but the average vehicle owner will have some trivial problem that a DIYer can fix for $100 in a couple hours, then they take it to a garage (let alone a dealership) and suddenly there's $1000 worth of problems that they never knew they had. If I didn't know any better, that would really put me off certain vehicles too, but if you are vehicle savvy then that $100 is a small inconvenience relative to purchase price, other vehicle benefits, or myriad other factors that CR can't possibly factor for.

It would be fair to say that a vehicle that needs that $100 part is less reliable, in that time period, but this is a somewhat trivial expense and people just get ripped off on the repair bill, while CR isn't doing surveys on most products old enough that you get any idea of the long term cost of ownership. They review as if you're going to throw away everything you own within 8 years and some trivial feature is going to Make Your Day. They are a symptom of our disposable society and consumer marketing. I think they need to focus more on the service industry.

I suppose that makes it impossible for them to please everyone, but I still come back to my initial thought that the more you know about a class of products, the more you tend to disagree with them.

 

[drbrock]

"then we have honda @ 75%, but acura @ 58%?"


I have a Acura right now but would never consider buying one again. I would however, get a 4 banger honda. Tranny issues with Honda V6s are real. Most likely I will pick up a used Lexus ES for my next beater.

It would be hard to get a 4 banger honda over a prius though. Used Prius are so cheap right now. If they looked anywhere near decent it would be my next beater car. I don't know why they can't make a corrolla prius...

 

[gorcorps]

Satisfaction ratings do not reflect reliability. There's a ton of people who pick a brand at a young age and will never know if the competition is any better because they've already made their choice.

How many times have you heard "I really like the new Ram, but I'm a Chevy guy" or something like that? I've had 5 cars from 5 different manufacturers because nothing has ever been 100% perfect. My next car will probably be my first repeat purchase though, because I like and trust my Highlander

It also depends when you ask car owners if you're happy. I was perfectly happy with my Jeep the first year, then the electrical gremlins took over and now I'll never bother again.

 

[Zivic]

Satisfaction ratings do not reflect reliability. There's a ton of people who pick a brand at a young age and will never know if the competition is any better because they've already made their choice.

this brings up a good point.

I have had many manufacturers... I have my preferences, as do most, but even with having owned multiple brands, I may have only had experience with a single offering. That offering may have been a flop and turned me off completely from the brand.

I am NOT a GM fan, not one bit... this is based on my experience with their full size trucks and having been a party to repairing a handful of their cars. that said, I bought a beater sonoma over the summer and love it.

I like hondas, and own an odyssey. if the odyssey were my only experience with the brand, I wouldn't buy again, yet I picked up an S2000 this past yr.

the report is too generalized to be useful for making a single purchase. Each specific car should be evaluated on its own, in comparison to the competitio...not just on the badge

 

[npaladin-2000]

Bit surprising on the luxury brands towards the bottom of the list...MB, Volvo, Cadillac, Acura, and Infiniti.

That could be because they found out how much parts and repairs cost on the things rather than a measure of reliability or even car design.

 

[master_shake_]

Took one look at that chart saw Chrysler near the top spit out my coffee and closed the window.

Yeah that list is bs.

 

[AdamK47]

It's a list based mostly on perception. It's the same thing with all Consumer Reports rankings.

 

[ElFenix]

chysler's not hard to figure out. they've only sold 2 products in any volume under that brand since 2014, the minivan and the 300. no actual consumers bought the 200 and it's sold so well it's being dropped.


i suspect some of acura might be "i could have bought an accord instead." that or it just wasn't up to a consumer's perceptions of other luxury brands.

 

[Thump553]

It's a list based mostly on perception. It's the same thing with all Consumer Reports rankings.

This hits the nail right on the head. People who buy $70,000 luxury cars nitpick every little fault. Owners of Japanese econoboxes are ecstatic because the car delivers just what they want-basic reliable transportation (probably the main reason Acura scored so much worse than Honda). As for Chrysler's high numbers, well maybe those owners are just happy when they can drive it somewhere else besides to the shop.